Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 25/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran's economy is among the top 20 economies in the world, finance and economic affairs minister Shamseddin Hosseini said on Saturday.
He added that despite global economic sanctions, the country had a successful economic year.
The Iranian Statistical Center has reported that the country's growth rate in the past calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2011, stood at 6.5 percent including the oil sector.
The World Bank has predicted that economic growth figure in the Islamic Republic will double this year.
According to the World Bank predictions, Iran's gross national product will rise by 6.7 percent in 2011 compared to the 6.1 percent rise in 2010.
Iran's economy is the 26th largest one in the world in terms of nominal GDP and 17th in terms of purchasing power parity globally, the International Monetary Fund said.
Iran's unemployment rate stood at 11.8 percent in the third quarter of the current calendar year, ended on December 21, 2011, marking a 0.3 percent decrease on the figures for the same period of last year, the Iranian Statistical Center reported.
Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare Minister Abdolreza Sheikholeslami said that the country plans to cut its unemployment rate to seven percent by the end of 2012, in line with the fifth socio-economic development plan (2010-2015).